Just Be Friends
by anteaque
Summary: SONGFIC: This is what you wanted right, Alfred? You wanted the two of us to just be friends.
1. Author's Note

**EDIT: A huge thank you to those who pointed out the formatting of the story! Apparently the Doc Manager screwed up the font and formatting of the original text. A huge thank you to you guys!**

This was a story (rather, oneshot) I've written back in 2014, and I've divided the story into a chapter with each corresponding song verse.

Another, I haven't proofread this story, so again I'm sorry for any grammatical errors or if some parts don't make sense.

I don't own anything; the english lyrics of Just be Friends belongs to Ironia-Vitae and Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

Happy reading!


	2. Anxiety

_Just be friends_

 _All we gotta do is just be friends  
It's time to say goodbye- just be friends  
All we gotta do is just be friends  
Just be friends, just be friends_

The silence was terrifyingly disturbing. Alfred fixated his eyes on to the television set. He didn't dare to look anywhere else. He just sat there on the couch, thinking. His hand brushed over the empty space next to him. It was awfully cold. Why?

 _He's gone_.

Those words made Alfred's eyes tear up, and his back shudder a little, but it just had to happen. This was what Alfred wanted after all.


	3. Cuts

_Yesterday morning I was thinking when it came to me  
Like picking up the pieces of some shattered pottery  
I wondered 'what the heck is this?' and some blood dripped from my fingertips  
So different from what it had been, it cut me by surprise_

Alfred was cleaning out his storage room after around 100 years without it being touched. It wasn't usually a daily basis for him to clean up that small, cramped-up room anyway, so when he felt like it, he would go for it. But it would definitely end up with him not being able to clean up anything anyway.

He was dusting the shelves that were lined with old toys and antique pistols, and some half-filled jars that contained some kind of weird substance that most likely Tony had created, and probably stored in here because he didn't have any more space in his room-slash-laboratory. Being the carefree person he is, as he was dusting the dirt-crusted jars, he accidentally hit something next to one of the empty jars, and it fell to the ground.

Before he went outside to get a broom and dustpan, he crouched down to the ground and took a closer look at the object that fell.

Apparently, the said object that fell was also made of glass, and was apparently a picture frame. He jerked his hand the moment he took hold of the said object. The glass of the picture frame had shattered into even smaller pieces, as a red liquid had stained some parts of the glass and a small drop of blood had stained the picture.

Alfred groaned as though the pain was bearable, and slipped the picture out from its frame.

He let out a small gasp, and felt extremely guilty.

It was a picture of…


	4. Tears

_Deep down inside of me, I knew that it'd be for the best_

 _Though it'd be painful for us both, there is just nothing left_

 _We're caught in this run-around, and it's running me into the ground_

 _I'd tell you, but I don't know if you've even realized_

As he sat in his designated seat, Arthur took a deep breath, and sighed. He thought of everything that had happened since the moment they both met.

He leaned back, and wanted to sink even deeper in his seat. "Was this really meant to happen...?" he thought to himself.

"It's what he wanted anyway, right? Why is there this part of me that feels like contradicting, then?" he thought, as the plane finally took off.

He took one last glance through the window, and said, "Definitely."

The tears came falling down.


	5. Flower Crown

_That you and I are in a world that's gradually decaying_

 _This is the only way to get ourselves out of here_

 _You smiled at me weakly, said "Don't think so bleakly"_

 _Then I pulled the plug_

Alfred held up a paper flower in front of Arthur. "What in the bloody hell is that?" Arthur asked. "It's a paper rose, duh! Can't you tell?" Alfred said, smiling, as he tied the said flower to a wire that's painted brown.

"Well, one thing's for sure, you sure are terrible at this, Alfred." He said sarcastically.

"But that is what I love about you after all," Arthur said, entwining both Alfred's and his hands together.

They remained like that, in the middle of the fields, for a good ten minutes, and after that, Alfred broke free. He noticed that Arthur has fallen asleep.

"Typical of him," he thought to himself.

He placed something on the Englishman's head, smiled and simply left him there.

As soon as Arthur had woken up, the sun had already started to set. He felt something weird on his head.

"What on earth did you put on my head this ti-"

His sentence was cut short because Alfred was no longer there beside him. He took off the said thing on his head and smiled.

But that smile was quickly replaced with a frown. It was a flower crown. He placed it back on his head, and noticed there was a letter next to him. It was from Alfred.

He scanned the letter, and was devastated.

 _"...I'm sorry, England. I'm tired of being under your wing. I want my own wings to soar into the sky. In short, I know it hurts for me to say this, but I want my independence from you…"_


	6. Blue

_I heard your voice shout out to me, hounding_

 _Sounding and rebounding and echoing, all in vain_

 _Nothing remains, nothing's the same, let's just make a clean break_

 _There's nothing keeping us here now we've unfastened the chain_

 _There are no second chances this time, now_

 _They're spent, disconnected, and dead under false veneer_

 _You ask me why, I only sigh, "That's just the way that it is"_

 _And I walk out lest we find out whose dry cheeks were now wet with tears_

"Arthur! Arthur! Come back! Please don't do this to me! I'll miss you!" a much younger Alfred said, clinging on to the arm of the Englishman.

Arthur chuckled, and smiled at the small child that was Alfred. "Don't you worry, Alfred. I'll be back in a few years. I'll make sure we have lots of fun when I get back. And I'll probably make you some scones as well. But I'll have to take my leave for now. And while I'm gone, you make sure you find that blue flower big brother Francis is asking you to fine, alright? Once you find it, show it to Davie immediately, okay? See you soon!" he said, as the taxi he was riding left the mansion of the young American.

The American waited, and waited.

A decade has passed, and the Englishman hasn't returned yet.

He waited another decade, and lost hope in the fact the Englishman will never come back.

He'd already found the blue flower, and showed it to Francis. And then to... Davie.

He placed a bouquet of the small blue flower on the grave of Davie, and told him how much he missed Arthur.

As he left the grave of the person to whom he owed his life to, it was raining.

Alfred was dazed for a second, and continued to walk back to his mansion-which was, and he knew it would, forever be cold and lonely.

Just like the color blue.

 _All we gotta do is just be friends_

 _It's time to say goodbye- just be friends_

 _All we gotta do is just be friends_

 _Just be friends, just be friends_


	7. Paper Roses

_Last night when everything calmed down a bit, I realized_

 _Like picking up the petals of a flower past its prime_

 _Its bloom is gone, there's no going back_

 _Every petal is a death in the palm of my hand_

 _And so, a while ago, our time together simply stopped_

 _Somewhere in London…_

It was past dusk when his flight had landed in London. Well, at least that's what Arthur had thought. He wasn't usually the type to wear watches, and his pocket watch was still fixed into the American time zone. "I'd have to adjust that later," he thought to himself. He hailed a cab, and in a matter of minutes, was back into his own house. But... it didn't feel like it though. Something was missing.

He unlocked the door, and was greeted by his butlers and maids. He simply gave them a warm smile, and let them bring his luggage up later. He quickly went up to his room, and locked the door behind him. He sat on his bed, which had hardly been touched ever since he left, and took out his pocket watch. He adjusted it to the time here in London, and put it on the bedside table.

He sighed, laid down on the bed. Why did all of this have to happen? He never had wanted all of this to happen, anyway. But it did. Arthur wanted to die at the fact he was gone.

He was free.

"I'd give it to him. I've given him everything he wanted! And this is what he does?" he thought to himself.

Arthur took out some hard candies from his pocket to get his mind off him, but instead of finding some candies, he found a crumpled paper rose, most of the petals detached the moment he's fished the rose out from his pocket.

It looked like the rose was wilting because it's color had become darker already, despite it being paper. He picked up all the paper petals, slowly, and clutched all off them to his chest tightly.

He couldn't bear the pain any longer.

The tears have already started falling once more.


	8. Memories

_I still recall that day when I was introduced to you_

 _When I first saw your smiling face, it melted me right through_

 _But now we've thrown the past away_

 _And we're hurt and hurt each other just to deal with the pain_

 _Our hearts are filled with thorns, but I can't say that I forgot_

Once Alfred had tried to finish cleaning the storage room, his eyes felt a little prickly. He wiped them, and decided to eat some burgers to take his mind off those unnecessary things.

An hour later found Alfred walking back to his mansion with a paper bag from McDonald's in one hand, and an extra large Soda cup in the other. He ate his lunch in his room in peace, with no one-not even Toris-to disturb him.

Halfway through his burger, he was distracted with the sound that was coming from outside. He peeked through the window, and saw some kids playing soccer on the street.

Why did looking at those kids hurt for some reason? It just…

Something else caught his attention as a familiar scent wafted through the air. He got up from his seat and peeked through the door to see what was happening.

It smelled like... smoke…?

He ran towards the kitchen-he always knew anything that smelled like something burnt always came from the kitchen, courtesy of Arthur of course.

The moment he stepped in to the kitchen, it was full of black smoke.

"Arthur?!" he screamed.

 _Damn, just hearing his name... it's just enough for me to go…_

 _I have to do something, and quick._


	9. Letters

_When we were trudging through the days before I made to end it_

 _When I was pulled in two by my still reluctant mind_

 _Even though I still loved you, I still felt I had to_

 _Tell you that we should break up_

 _June xx, 19XX_

 _Dear England,_

 _Hello! It's America. I just wanted to say to you thank you so much for everything you have done for me-taking me in as a colony, all those burnt scones, (which I thought tasted hella good, and I'm not lying, I promise!) the ice cream, and all those other fun memories we shared with each other. I know that by the time you're reading this you might be wondering why you're wearing a flower crown. Hey, they're so in right now! Well, at least that what Poland told me... but still! They're hella fab! I don't wear flower crowns everyday though, because I think they're a little too girly, so I wear a small one I made myself on my wrist. But you insulted me when you caught me wearing it, claiming it didn't look like one at all, which made me upset for a good 2 weeks. But I've long since gotten over that, yet I still wear it up to this very day._

 _Alright, let's get to the real point why I really wrote this letter. I'll be frank with you, England. I really don't know if I should love or hate you for your personality-very judgmental, and very tsundere, as Japan would say. Well, it's not my fault you're always in denial, is it? It's that French guy's fault, okay? Not mine. Okay? Okay. Moving on... I'm tired of keeping up with everything you do, actually. One minute, you're a prim and proper gentleman, and the next minute you're a punk rock star jamming hella awesome tunes on your guitar. (In which, I think is really awesome, dude.) You do know that I love you to pieces, right? I've always did. Ever since the first time our eyes met, I felt that something had sparked between us. It's as if we were made for each other. Even if we are opposites, we're still best friends, right? Well, I'd have to quote that 'opposites attract', in this case we do._

 _As much as I hate to say this, and as much as I love you, I'm really, really sorry England. I'm tired of being under your wing. I want my own wings to soar into the sky. In short, I know it hurts for me to say this, but I want my independence from you. I'm tired of being underneath an existing nation. I want to become my own nation. A nation wherein people can be free, and do whatever they want at their own convenience. I just thought it was about time for me to vent out how I really felt for these past few years. I hope you understand, England. You'll have to do this for the better of you and me. Well, I'll see you soon. I love you._

 _With love from your son,_

 _America_


	10. Nightmare

_There is a rainstorm drenching my heart, and_

 _Dumbfounded and cowering, my vision is watery_

 _My mind's made up, so what is up with this hesitancy?_

 _I'm shaken down to the bone by pain that's running through me_

 _We loosed the bonds and we've let them go, now_

 _The seam has been opened, and it's fading more every day_

 _This is goodbye, at least we tried, but now it's over, my friend_

 _We cannot stay, just walk away and don't ever look back again_

Arthur knew this day was coming-the day when all of his colonies would be all grown-up and leave him behind. He wasn't ready for this sudden change. But heck no, why on earth would he set all of his colonies, especially America, his best and strongest colony, free? That's crazy!

But he just dreaded this day-the day when Alfred is ready to fight back for his independence.

It was raining.

Battle cries could be heard everywhere in the field. Arthur knew he was useless at this point in time-more than half of his army was already dead, and the remaining of his best soldiers were already severely wounded and injured. Alfred stood in front of him, a familiar paper in hand. He knew that paper a little too well.

"Hey, Britain! All I wanted was my independence! I'm no longer a little child, nor am I your brother! From now on, consider me, independent!" Alfred shouted.

By this point in time, Arthur was already aiming his gun for Alfred's heart, but for some reason, he just couldn't pull the trigger.

Come on, England. You want America as your colony forever right? Pull the trigger! It's all you need to make him yours forever!

Arthur lunged forward, and Alfred lowered his own rifle, but quickly used it to defend himself before Arthur could stab him using the sharp end of the rifle. Luckily, for Alfred, only a long scratch was the thing that he'd gotten from the assault of the Englishman, yet the assault has sent his rifle flying into the sky and they both didn't notice it fall to the ground-simply because both men were too lost in each other's intimidating gazes.

Both men were already catching their breath, and Arthur broke the silence between them by saying, "Why do you think I would set you free, huh? Do you think you're ready to face the world out there all on your own? What if something bad happens to you, will you be able to defend yourself, huh?"

Alfred was dumbfounded. All of England's soldiers were already aiming for him. He never thought of it that way. He remained silent, until Arthur lowered his own gun. "There's no way I could shoot you, idiot." He said, his voice shaky, and tossed his rifle to the ground.

Arthur fell to his knees, and started crying. "Wh-why...?! Dammit, why?! It's not fair!"

"You know why, England." Alfred said, trying to be-and sounding-the least comforting.

"But... what happened, Arthur? What happened to the strong, mighty nation that was England? I don't remember that mighty nation of England to stoop this low in front of me. You aren't the same England I knew from before..."


	11. Return

_If I had a chance, only had one chance_

 _To wish a wish and make that wish come true_

 _If you and I could be born once again, then_

 _After all, I- again, I- I'd still want to meet you_

 _Years later after the Revolutionary War…_

"Are you sure about this, Mr. America? This is all too sudden; at least that's what I think. I mean, going there without prior notice..." Toris sounded worried, handing Alfred his trademark jacket.

"Nah, don't worry about me dude, I'll be fine. And you can take a day off while I'm gone, or go on a date with Natalya. It's up to you on how you wanna spend your day off." Alfred said, winking at him.

"Well, if you say so, then I'll be taking my leave now. Take care, Mr. America!" Toris said, heading back into his office.

"Am I making the right choices? I wonder if he will still forgive me..." those questions ran through Alfred's mind as he was making his way to the airport, and bid farewell to his capital.

He took a deep breath, and made his way to his designated gate.

Well, here goes nothing.


	12. Ruthless

_I heard your voice shout out to me, hounding_

 _Sounding and rebounding and echoing, all in vain_

 _Nothing remains, nothing's the same, let's just make a clean break_

 _There's nothing keeping us here now we've unfastened the chain_

 _We loosed the bonds and we've let them go, now_

 _The seam has been opened, and it's fading more every day_

 _This is goodbye, at least we tried, but now it's over, my friend_

 _We cannot stay, just walk away and don't ever look back again_

It was relatively warmer in London when he arrived coming from New York. Or it must be autumn, so it should be warm. At least that's what he thought.

He hailed a taxi going to his house. Along the arduous trip to Arthur's house, Alfred had passed by a flower shop. He told the taxi to stop, and came to a halt it did, and he told the taxi driver to wait for a moment, and he quickly bought a bouquet of roses.

Minutes later, he came back out, with a bouquet in his hands. He went back inside the cab, and as soon as he sat down, the taxi driver asked, "Are those for your girlfriend?" He blushed, and said, "Uhh... yeah! Kinda... if you can put it that way," Alfred said, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

"Ah, I see. You're still so young after all. Being in love sure is a nice feeling, isn't it, lad?" the taxi driver said, smiling and adjusting his cap.

"Yeah, it sure is." he lied, faking a smile.

"Well, we're here now, sir." The taxi driver said. "Thanks, old man." Alfred said, handing the taxi driver the fare.

He headed up the stairs and on to the porch of the Englishman's mansion. He gathered up his courage, and his speech to Arthur. He took a deep breath, adjusted his glasses, and rang the doorbell. Not even moments later, there was already a maid who answered the door.

"Who is i-Oh! Sir Alfred! Well, I haven't seen you in quite a long time!" He smiled at the maid, and asked her, "Is Arthur inside?"

"Oh, yes! Sir Arthur is in his room, but I'm not quite sure on what he's doing. The last time I came up to his room, he was fixing up some documents and making them into paper planes. Weird, if you'd ask me, but it's what he's been up to the past few weeks. Oh, please do come in!" He gave her one last smile, and noticed there were flower petals scattered around the floor everywhere. And some red strings, too.

"Hey, umm... can I ask, uhh... what's up with the mess on the floor?" Alfred asked the maid.

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know either, I'm sorry if I'm no help. But I haven't touched anything since a few weeks ago, so it's really been like this. Plus, Sir Arthur doesn't want us to clear all of these up, so I think most of us staff here have gotten used to the clutter that's been spread around here on the floor." she responded.

"Oh, I see. Thanks." He replied briefly.

The moment he's stepped onto the stairs that led to Arthur's room, it was as if every step he took was getting heavier by the moment. The place... it was just too nostalgic.

Everything reminded him of Arthur.

"I'd be damned if there are even more of this mess upsta-Well I'll be damned, I didn't even finish my sentence yet, everything I say comes true. Or it was just a coincidence." He said, eyeing to where the trail of flower petals and red strings had started.

The hallway on the second floor was dimly lit, so he could hardly see where he was going. The further he went down into the hall, he started to notice that there were less flower petals and strings, and they were starting to become multicolored balloons.

He just kept following the trail of balloons and looking closer, it appears that the red string hadn't stopped yet. It seemed to be... continuous. And kinda tangled up at times, too. Heck, that was one long string Arthur had here.

He kept walking, trying to make out the rooms that he was passing by. He hadn't realized he had already bumped his head into a door already. He groaned in pain, and noticed that the mysterious trail of balloons and strings end here. He tried to feel for a doorknob, and when he did, he twisted it, and went inside. He just couldn't believe what he saw.

Arthur was half conscious when he'd heard the loud noise that banged onto his door. "Who in the bloody hell is it in this hour?" he muttered, lowering down a paper airplane. When the door opened, he was astonished.

"A-alfred...? W-what are you doing here…?"

Alfred took a deep breath, and exhaled. This is it. There's no turning back now.

"H-hi, Arthur! I was just checking up on you to see how you're doing!" he said as he grinned sheepishly.

"I'm fine, t-thank you." Arthur replied, as he was trying to distract himself by playing with the paper plane in his hand.

Alfred walked closer to the Englishman, and with that action, made the said Brit flinch and let go of the paper plane his was holding.

"Wh-what is it...?" Arthur asked, eyeing the American suspiciously. Alfred blushed, and handed him the bouquet of roses.

"Here, these are for you."

Arthur hesitantly took the bouquet from Alfred's hands, and said, "T-thank you."

The Englishman walked away from the American, and placed the bouquet of flowers on the bed. He sighed. Alfred walked closer, and hugged the Brit from behind.

"I missed you," he whispered into Arthur's ear. The Englishman blushed, but thought, " _this isn't right_."

He turned around to face the American. He then properly hugged him, and the paper plane fell to the ground. Alfred took note of Arthur's facial features, seeing as how much has changed since the incident.

He placed his hand on his cheek, and slowly leaned forward, until their lips were barely an inch apart.

" _Cut it out!_ "

"What's wrong? Don't you miss me too?" Alfred asked, frowning.

"It's not that," Alfred muttered. "You see, he might see us-" Arthur was cut off by Alfred's lips. He tried to push away, but nothing can stop him.

 _Ten years without him was torture for me._

"I'm serious, please, cut it out!" he screamed.

"Arthur, darling is everything all ri-" a voice from the hall came, and the person opened the door.

"R-rosaline...! This isn't what you think..." his voice was shivering.

"Arthur? Who is this person?" Alfred and Rosaline asked at the same time, pointing at each other.

Arthur looked down, and Alfred let go of him.

He took a deep breath, and said, "Alfred, I'd like you to meet Rosaline," he gestured to her, before continuing "my soon-to-be wife."

And it was as if the entire world stopped.

Everything was getting hazy.

Before Alfred knew it, everything went black.


	13. Limit

_This the end of our love, now_

"Are you sure everything's going to be alright, Doctor?" Rosaline asked, before heading out to run some errands.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure Mrs. Kirkland. Everything's going to be perfectly fine. Just a few days more confinement here, and probably a week's worth of bed rest, and he'll be doing great in no time." The Doctor said.

"Oh, that's great news! Honey, I hope your friend will do okay. I hope he gets well soon. Anyways, I have a few errands to run, so I'll see you back later at the mansion!" she said, before kissing him goodbye.

"And you, Mr. Kirkland I assume will stay over for the few couple of hours here to watch Alfred. The nurses will check up on him once in a while to get his status. Now if you'll excuse me I have an appointment to attend to." the doctor said, pointing to his watch.

"Thanks Doc," Arthur said sarcastically as the doctor left the room, and sighed as he now faced the unconscious American.

"God, how did it all get to this?" he muttered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he watched the American sleep peacefully.

"I still can't believe you're all grown-up, my dear America..." he whispered before grabbing a piece of paper from his suitcase.

He was trying to create origami. His friend Kiku taught him once when he visited his place. But for some reason, the paper he was folding didn't look like a crane, so he decided to create an airplane instead.

"Sure I'm all grown-up but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still in love with you, Arthur."

Those words stopped Arthur from folding the last side of the paper.

"Glad you're awake. The nurse will come around in a while, so I'll be taki—"

Midsentence, he was cut off by Alfred's lips on his. Arthur pulled away and slapped his face.

"Arthur, why are you doing this to me? Can't you see? I'm in love with you! And now you're telling me you're about to get married to another person behind my back?" Alfred ranted, with tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, that's just the way that life is. I've long moved on, and you wanted this, right?" Arthur replied, wiping away the American's tears.

He placed a kiss on his forehead, before leaving a crying Alfred in the hospital room all alone.

 _Goodbye, America. Goodbye, Alfred._

And then the tears fell for the last time.

Alfred looked at the paper airplane Arthur had left him. He played around with it, before noticing something was written inside one of the folds of the airplane.

He opened up the piece of paper, which had the words:

 _I don't keep love around._

He crumpled the paper and threw it in the waste bin.

"Dammit," he muttered.

"Davie was right. The less time that I spend with you, the less you need to heal." he thought to himself before going back to sleep.

 _All we gotta do is just be friends_

 _It's time to say goodbye, just be friends_

 _All we gotta do is just be friends_

 _it's time to say goodbye, just be friends_

 _All we gotta do is just be friends, just be friends_

 _It's time to say goodbye_

 _Just be friends_


	14. Thank you

Thank you so much for keeping up until the end. I know it's a pretty short story, but I hope you enjoyed it.

This was my first attempt at something angsty, so I'm sorry if it wasn't too angsty or feels-y.

Again, I've written this story back in 2014, so my writing might've improved a little since then.

Until the next story!

With love,

Tris ︎


End file.
